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The amount you get from your bean (Phaseolus vulgaris spp.) plants at harvest time does matter a hill of beans. Without the right conditions, you may find yourself with a tiny crop that won't even cook up to a single, small serving of beans for dinner. Getting the right type, harvesting them properly, keeping pests at bay and caring for the plants well can all help you to get the most from the bean plants in your garden.

Beans in a Pod

Snap beans, shell and dry beans may come from the same plant. It all depends on the harvest time. Snap beans are picked while the pod is slender, green and entirely edible. Shell beans refer to any bean harvested at the shell stage when the pod swells with the enlarged bean inside. Unlike the beans on the shelves at your grocery store, you can cook shell beans without soaking because the beans inside the pods are still tender. Dry beans are harvested when you leave shell beans on the plant until the pods surrounding them have dried completely.

Planting Rates

For average production, plant between four and eight plants for each person in your home. If you have a family of real bean-lovers, consider planting between three and five hills of pole bean plants or between 10 and 15 bush beans per person. Use five to six pole bean seeds in each hill. Doing this will result in maximum production of 50 quarts of harvested beans from a space on a 100-foot row, according to Organic Gardening. Space bush beans every 3 to 4 inches and pole beans every 4 to 6 inches. This equals 300 to 400 bush beans or 200 to 300 pole beans per 100-foot row, which means you get between 6 and 8 quarts per bush bean plant or between 4 and 6 quarts per pole bean plant.

Pole Vaulting or Bush Babies

Production of bean plants depends on their growth habit. Pole beans have harvests three times larger than bush beans for the same planting space. Shelling beans may grow from pole or bush plants. Choose depending on the amount of space in your garden. Opt for pole beans if you have only a little space or want to grow beans in a container. Use a trellis or insert three wooden rods into the ground around the plant and tie them where they meet at the top to form a teepee for the beans to climb up. Bush beans take up more space in your garden and do not require any support system since they only grow up to 2 feet tall.

Increasing Yield Through Harvest

To boost the amount of beans your bushes produce, pick them as soon as they are at the perfect stage for shell beans, when the pods widen but the beans inside remain tender. Waiting beyond this time encourages the plant to stop growing new beans, which reduces your harvest. Daily picking, especially of pole bean varieties, maximizes the plants' overall yield. To avoid having to harvest all of the beans within a short time from your whole garden, plant half of your beans two weeks after the first half. When planting some of your beans later, be sure that they will have enough time to grow and reach maturity before frosty weather sets in. Most beans need between 70 and 120 days after planting before you can pick them at the shell bean stage.

Pesky Pest Problems

The few pests that affect beans, such as aphids, can reduce your harvest yield. One of the best ways to ensure that your beans are not pestered by pests is to keep them well watered. Provide 1 inch of weekly water for your bean plants, applied at ground level. Should you spot tiny bugs on your plant, they are likely aphids. Attach a sprayer to your garden hose and spray the little critters off the plant with water. Do this daily until the aphids are gone to prevent losing some of your beans. Avoid spraying any bean pods or blooms on the plant, which could get knocked off and further reduce your yield.